Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a report, shared first with CNBC, detailing the economic impact of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The document argues that scrapping CFPB limits on credit-card late fees and overdraft charges accounts for about $22.5 billion of the estimated $26.5 billion in consumer costs. The remaining roughly $4 billion allegedly stems from dropped enforcement actions and settlements that Democrats say would have provided consumer relief.
The report arrives as lawmakers prepare a Senate oversight hearing with acting director Russell Vought, who faces questions over the bureau’s actions, including dismissing enforcement actions and consent orders and an allegation that the agency recently removed 15 years of consumer data from the CFPB website. Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has slashed staffing, narrowed or dropped enforcement cases, and rolled back Biden-era rules to refocus the agency on its core mission, according to Warren’s summary. Republicans have defended changes as a needed check on a perceived overreach in regulation.
Warren’s analysis attributes up to $15 billion in consumer costs to abandoning a rule that capped most credit-card late fees at $8; the agency had previously estimated this rule would save consumers about $10 billion annually. The report also attributes about $7.5 billion to the repeal of the overdraft-fee rule, which would have limited many banks to charging $5 for overdrafts. The remaining roughly $4 billion comes from the decision to drop more than three dozen enforcement actions and settlements, some of which would have sent payments directly to consumers.
The White House and CFPB did not immediately comment. Ahead of the hearing, Warren sent Vought a letter outlining congressional oversight requests that she says remain unanswered. CNBC was the first to see the report.
